Feb 09, 2026 17:30:00

'FreeTube Android' is an Android app that allows you to play YouTube videos for free without ads or login.

' FreeTube Android ' is an Android app that was created by

forking ' FreeTube, ' a dedicated YouTube player that allows you to watch videos for free without ads and without logging in to a Google account. It retains the benefits of FreeTube, which allows you to play YouTube videos in a privacy-protected environment free from Google's tracking using cookies and JavaScript, but can be run as an Android app.

GitHub - MarmadileManteater/FreeTubeAndroid: A soft fork of FreeTube which brings it to Android (formerly FreeTubeCordova)
https://github.com/MarmadileManteater/FreeTubeAndroid

◆Installation
If you check the GitHub website before installing, you will see the following warning:

 🛈 Note

 FreeTube Android is currently in Beta. While it should work well for most users, there are still bugs and missing features that need to be addressed.

This means that there are still bugs remaining, so installation is at your own risk. If there are no problems, download the latest apk file from the GitHub release page . At the time of writing, the latest version is 0.23.12.1 , so the file to download is ' freetube-0.23.12.1-Android.apk '.

Once the download is complete, a message will appear asking 'Do you want to install this app?' Select 'Install.' Note that to install apps using apk files, you must first allow 'Installation of unknown apps' in your Android settings. However, this is done at your own risk, as there is a risk of installing malicious apps.

Once the installation begins, the message 'Installing...' will be displayed along with a progress bar.

Once the installation is complete, a message will appear saying 'The app has been installed.' Press the 'Open' button to close the message and launch the app.

◆Startup and settings
The screen immediately after launching is as follows. Japanese localization seems to be fine. This is the 'Subscribed Channels' screen, but since it's just been installed, the subscribed channel list is empty.

First, let's take a look at the settings screen. There seem to be quite a lot of settings. If we were to go through them all, the number of items would be enormous, so we'll take a closer look at the categories that caught our eye.

・General
'General' settings. 'Select data acquisition method' can be selected from 'Internal API' and '

Invidious API ' which emphasizes anonymity.

If you scroll down, you will see 'Trending Region Settings.' It would be a good idea to change this from the default 'America' to 'Japan.'

·theme
'Theme' settings. There is a high degree of freedom in customizing the appearance, so you can set it to your liking.

Player
The 'Player' settings mainly relate to operation.

The 'default display mode' can be selected from the following:

Default
・Theater
・Full window

The options for 'Video Format Settings' are as follows:

・

DASH format
・Old format
・Audio format

The options for 'Video Quality Settings' are as follows:

・4K
・1440p
・1080p
・720p
・480p
・360p
・240p
・144p
・Automatic

The options for 'Video playback speed interval' are as follows:

・0.1
・0.25
・0.5
・1.0

If you turn on 'Enable screenshots,' when you come across a scene you like while playing a video, you can quickly extract and save just that scene as an image from the video.

When turned on, the following additional settings will be displayed:

- Screenshot format
-Screenshot quality (only works if the screenshot format is other than PNG)
- File name pattern

・Focus mode
'Focus on mode' hides various UI elements so you can focus on the video. For example, you can hide 'Trending videos,' 'Popular videos,' 'Playlists,' 'Subscribed channels,' 'Short videos,' 'Live broadcasts,' and 'Community,' which is useful if you're not interested in live broadcasts on a channel and just want to watch videos.

·privacy
The 'Privacy' settings section. This contains a button to switch whether or not to leave traces of your usage on your smartphone, as well as to delete cache and history. This shows that the developer's approach to protecting user privacy is very important.

◆Watching videos
I'll use the search bar to find a video to watch. I typed 'GIGAZINE' and a few suggestions were displayed.

When I searched, GIGAZINE's channel was displayed as a 'search result.'

I was able to watch the videos on the channel without any issues. However, I was surprised that a video from

an article from 18 years ago was displayed at the top. I looked to see if there was a way to change the order of the videos, but I couldn't find anything, at least not near the 'Search Results' section.

When I clicked the 'Subscribe' button, I was able to subscribe successfully. After subscribing, the button changed to 'Unsubscribe.'

When you select 'Subscribed Channels' from the menu at the bottom of the screen, the subscribed GIGAZINE channel is displayed. The 'Video' tab displays a list of videos registered on the GIGAZINE channel.

Switched to 'Short Videos'.

Summary
'FreeTube Android' allows you to watch YouTube videos without logging in to YouTube, and aims to be a highly functional app that respects privacy. It's still in beta and there are some unstable elements at the time of writing, but there are many attractive features, so if you're interested, check it out.